Reuters reported that Saudi based Rabigh Refining and Petrochemical Company is facing problems at its new gasoline making residual fluid catalytic cracking unit.

Traders said that because of this, Saudi Aramco will need to continue importing two or three cargoes per month of gasoline into the Red Sea region until September, when they hope gasoline production will start to increase at PetroRabigh. They said that they will only need to import limited amounts during the fourth quarter.

PetroRabigh, a USD 10.3 billion JV between Saudi Aramco and Japan’s Sumitomo Chemical, said recently that it had shipped its first gasoline cargo to a Saudi city. It said that the refinery, initially designed to be export oriented, sent the shipment of 320,000 barrels of high octane gasoline to the southern city of Jizan.

(Sourced from Reuters)